Pearson leads FTSE 350 for women in the boardroom

Media group Pearson has come top in a new study for the Observer on gender balance and equal opportunities in the boardrooms of FTSE 350 companies. Pearson is one of a tiny handful of leading UK businesses with a female chief executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino. Only nine of the companies we surveyed had a woman CEO, equivalent to 3% of the total.

Observer on gender balance and equal opportunities in the boardrooms of FTSE 350 companies. Pearson is one of a tiny handful of leading UK businesses with a female chief executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino. Only nine of the companies we surveyed had a woman CEO, equivalent to 3% of the total.

Mitie, the outsourcing firm, which came second, also has a female top team: Ruby McGregor-Smith is chief executive and Suzanne Baxter chief financial officer. McGregor-Smith said: "We have a culture and an ethos of providing opportunities for everyone regardless of their background or their gender - we just want to hire people who deliver great output."

The research, carried out by The Co-operative Asset Management, revealed a much less rosy picture across the whole of the FTSE 350, however, with women still accounting for only 242 board seats out of a possible 2,742, or 8.8%. There are only 34 female executive directors out of 970, or 3.5%, with the remaining 208 serving as non-executives - independent directors who are meant to act as a check and balance on the executives but do not wield operational power. No fewer than 132 companies do not have a single female on their board.

The results suggest that boardroom culture and unconscious prejudice are excluding women. Harriet Harman, minister for women and equalities, said: "A company in the grip of the old boy network is never going to be successful in the modern world. If they can't see half the population as being worthy then they are in the grip of structural prejudice." McGregor-Smith added: "We need to educate people on why they shouldn't harbour these prejudices, then they will get the best results for the clients and the company."

The bottom of the table is dominated by heavy industrial companies including manufacturers and miners as well as IT, though there are signs of change. Drax Power has a female chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, as does mining giant Anglo American, where Cynthia Carroll is at the helm. Oil company Cairn Energy scored well, too. It provides a breakdown of its regional workforce by gender and nationality, and is introducing policies aimed at helping work-life balance.

Trish Lawrence of Opportunity Now, a lobby group for women in the workplace, said: "The lack of women on boards is not a women's issue but an organisational issue and we need to engage men in this agenda."

• This article was amended on Wednesday 26 August 2009. We said that Rona Fairhead was currently the chief financial officer of Pearson. Ms Fairhead left that position in 2006. This has been corrected.

Research commissioned by the Observer has revealed that UK boardrooms are still overwhelmingly male-dominated, despite the fact that more than nine out of 10 companies claim to have an equal opportunities policy in place.

The Good Companies Guide, jointly produced by the Observer and The Co-operative Asset Management, reveals the truth behind UK plc's equal-opportunities promises. What do they score for gender equality policies and female representation in the boardroom?